When you apply for a home mortgage loan, your Mortgage Planner will check your credit score. This is reported to credit agencies as an inquiry and lets creditors know that you are considering taking on new debt. An inquiry can have a negative, but small, effect on your credit score. While still small, inquiries can have a larger effect if you have few accounts or a short credit history. However, inquiries are a mandatory part of applying for a home loan, so they cannot be avoided.

Inquiries made within a 45-day window are only recorded on your credit report as a single inquiry because creditors understand that you are only going to buy one home. This means that multiple lenders can check your credit as long as it is within 45 days of the initial inquiry. It is important to note that the 45-day window only applies to mortgage loans; credit card and other credit inquiries are processed separately.

When you check your credit on your own, it does not have an affect on your score. Before you apply for a home mortgage loan, you should request a credit report to dispute any errors that you see. Because resolving disputes could take longer than 45 days, this will avoid your lender having to submit two inquiries if there are errors on the original report.